Week: 603.1

Guest: Dr. John Herman, sleep specialist, Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical School, Dallas

Topic: Changing your sleep clock

Host/Producer: Steve Girard

NEMA: Changing your sleep clock...coming up...

NEMA: Sometimes our sleep clock seems to be out of order...and we can’t seem to fall asleep at night, and have a tough time getting up in the morning...sleep expert Dr. John Herman of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School...

HERMAN: Your biological clock is telling you this is when you need to be awake. So, then if you suddenly try to go to bed earlier, you naturally can’t fall asleep. So, the way to fix that is to get up earlier, get out in the bright light in the morning. Exercise in the morning...in bright light...and that will reset your clock earlier, and then you will naturally fall asleep earlier.

NEMA: And Dr. Herman says it works for kids who can’t get up on time...

HERMAN: Don’t make them go to bed earlier, get them up earlier. Get them out in bright light, get them outdoors playing, riding his bike, whatever....or get her out. And that will shift them. And the opposite can be done with children who are waking up too early in the morning, or adults who get sleepy too early, and wake up too early. They need bright light at night, and maybe even a little more activity at night, to kind of shift their clock in the opposite direction.

NEMA: Dr. Herman says most people who think they have insomnia really just have to readjust their sleep clock. Sweet dreams...I’m Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.